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Carrie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country music singer-songwriter who rose to fame as the winner of American Idol's fourth season in 2005. Since then, Carrie has sold over 14 million albums, had 14 #1 hits, and garnered multiple awards from the Grammys, Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and many more. Known for her beauty, kind heart, and dedication to music, Carrie has earned herself a loyal fanbase since winning American Idol. She's also taken her place in the history books. She is the first woman in history win the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award twice, both in 2009 and 2010. She's also a three time winner of both the ACM and CMA Female Vocalist of the Year award, a 5-time Grammy winner, and a member of the Grand Ole Opry. In addition, Carrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, is one of American Idol's best-selling artists, and currently holds the record as the female artist with the most number one hits on Billboard's Hot Country songs chart with 12. She's had 3 multi-platinum selling albums, put on some of the most successful tours in America, and she's even done some acting. In 2012, Billboard named Carrie the current reigning queen of country music. Early life Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood on March 10, 1983, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was raised on her parents' farm in the rural town of Checotah.[21] Her father worked in a sawmill, while her mother taught elementary school.[22] She has two older sisters, Shanna and Stephanie.[23] During her childhood, Carrie performed at local talent shows and festivals, and even got a record deal when she was 14. Although the record deal later fell through, Carrie continued to sing. She attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and majored in mass communication with an emphasis in journalism. Carrie later went back to school in 2006 and graduated. In addition, she was runner-up in a Miss NSU beauty pageant. American Idol In the summer of 2004, Carrie tried out for American Idol's fourth season in St. Louis, Missouri. Carrie made it, and eventuakky moved onto the top 12. Carrie continued succeeding in the competition, singing in front of millions of people each week. One of the show's producers later said she dominated the voting, winning each week handily.[33] She gained a fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears" during the course of the show. On May 25, 2005, Carrie was crowned winner of American Idol. This included a recording contract worth at least a million dollars, which would eventually start her music career. Her debut single, "Inside Your Heaven", debuted at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 songs chart, making Carrie the first American Idol winner and first country artist to have a song debut at #1. This would only be the beginning of the astounding success that was to follow. Some Hearts Era (2005-2007) Carrie released her debut album, Some Hearts, on November 15, 2005. The album sold 315,000 copies in its first week, landing at #1 on Billboard's Country albums chart and #2 on the Top 200 albums chart. Following the success of "Inside Your Heaven", Carrie released "Jesus, Take the Wheel" as her first single to country radio. The song was a huge #1 hit, resonationg with audiences and becoming one of her best-known songs. She enjoyed a string of #1 hits following after, including "Don't Forget to Remember Me", "Before He Cheats", and "Wasted". Some Hearts made history as the best-selling album by a female country artist and the top country album of the decade, as named by Billboard. It has gone on to be certified 7 times platinum. Carrie was no slouch when it came to winning awards, either. Her award-winning streak began when she won three Billboard Music Awards, including Top-Selling Hot 100 Song of the Year and Top-Selling Country Single for "Inside Your Heaven" and Country Single Sales Artist of the Year. She also picked up a Teen Choice Award for Choice Female Reality/Variety Star. Carrie won her first two Academy of Country Music Awards, which were Single Record of the Year for "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and Top New Female Vocalist of the Year. She also recieved a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association for Country Recorded Song of the Year for "Jesus, Take the Wheel". She won Breakthrough Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for the song at the CMT Music Awards, making her the only double winner at the event. At the 2006 Country Music Association Awards in November, Carrie won her first CMA awards, which were the Horizon Award and Female Vocalist of the Year. At the American Music Awards, she won Favorite New Breakthrough Artist. In addition, at the Inspirational Country Music Awards she won Mainstream Country Artist of the Year. That December, she won five Billboard Music Awards: Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country Album of the Year. In January, Carrie also earned her first People's Choice awards, which were Favorite Country Song for "Before He Cheats" and Favorite Female Artist. At the 2007 Grammy Awards in February, Carrie took home her first Grammy awards, which were the Best New Artist award, Best Country Song for "Jesus, Take the Wheel", and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Jesus, Take the Wheel". She gathered more accolades by winning three awards at the 2007 CMT Awards -- Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year for "Before He Cheats". She also took home three 2007 ACM Awards in May, which included Album of the Year for Some Hearts, Female Vocalist of the Year for the first time, and Music Video of the Year for "Before He Cheats". During the 2007 CMA Awards in November, Carrie won Single of the Year for "Before He Cheats" and Female Vocalist of the Year for the second consecutive time. At the 2007 American Music Awards, she won a total of three awards, including Artist of the Year, Favorite Country Female Artist, and Favorite Country Album for "Some Hearts". During the 2007 Billboard Music Awards, Underwood won another five awards: Female Country Artist of the Year, Country Album of the Year for "Some Hearts", Country Artist of the Year, Female Billboard Top 200 Artist of the Year, and Country Albums Artist of the Year. At the 2008 Grammy Awards in February, Underwood earned two more Grammys for Best Country Female Vocal Performance for "Before He Cheats" and Best Country Song for "Before He Cheats". Carnival Ride Era (2007-2009) Carrie released her second album, Carnival Ride, on October 23, 2007. The album sold an astounding 527,000 copies in its first week, landing at #1 atop both Billboard's Top 200 albums chart and country albums chart. This was the first time Carrie had a #1 album on the Top 200. Carnival Ride produced five number one hits on the country charts, which were: "So Small", "All-American Girl", "Last Name", "Just A Dream", and "I Told You So". The album has since been certified 3 times platinum. In 2008, Carrie embarked on a joint tour with Keith Urban and also launched her own headlining tour, which proved to be successful. On May 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry by Garth Brooks. At the age of 25, she was the youngest member of the Opry at the time. At the 2008 ACM Awards, she won Female Vocalist of the Year, for the second consecutive time. She also won another Teen Choice award in 2008 for Red Carpet Fashion Icon. Carrie and Brad Paisley co-hosted the CMA Awards in November 2008 for the first time, and she walked away with the Female Vocalist of the Year award for the third consecutive time. In October 2008, Carrie fans were seeing double as she posed with her wax figure at the unveiling in New York for Madame Tussauds. At the 2008 American Music Awards in November, Carnival Ride won the Favorite Country Album award, making it her second time to win the category. In 2008, Underwood also won her first international award, which was "Female Vocalist of the Year" at the European Country Music Awards. At the 2008 Billboard Music Awards in December, she picked up yet another award for Country Songs Artist of the Year. At the 2009 People's Choice Awards in January, Carrie won three more awards, including Favorite Country Song for "Last Name", Favorite Female Artist, and Favorite Star 35 and Under. She also took home her fourth Grammy, Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Last Name", in February. In May 2009, she earned her first Academy of Country Music Award's Entertainer of the Year title, making her only the seventh woman in history to win this award. She also won Female Vocalist of the Year for the third consecutive time. In September, Carrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Play On Era (2009-2012) Carrie released her third album, Play On, on November 3, 2009. The album sold 318,000 copies in its first week, landing at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 albums and country albums charts. This was her second #1 album on the top 200 chart and third #1 album on the country chart. Play On produced three #1 hits on the country charts, which were: "Cowboy Casanova", "Temporary Home", and "Undo It". The fourth single, "Mama's Song", peaked at #2 on the chart. She co-wrote seven of the album's tracks. Play On has since been certified 2-times platinum, becoming her third consecutive multi-platinum album. In November 2009, Carrie had her very own CMT Invitation Only show. She and Brad Paisley co-hosted the 2009 CMA Awards in November for the second time. In December, she hosted a Christmas special, Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special, a two-hour variety show on Fox that featured Dolly Parton, with whom she sang a rendition duet of "I Will Always Love You", seventh-season American Idol champion David Cook, Kristin Chenoweth, Brad Paisley and others. At the 2009 Billboard Music Awards that December, she took home another two awards, including Top Country Album of the Decade for "Some Hearts" and Top Female Country Artist of the Decade. Also in December, she received the Nashville Symphony's Harmony award. In January of 2010, Carrie won her fifth career Grammy -- the best country collaboration with vocals award -- for her duet with Randy Travis, "I Told You So." She also managed to win Favorite Country Artist at the People's Choice Awards in January. She embarked on her Play On Tour in March, which was insanely successful, and continued to tour through the rest of year. In March she made her TV acting debut on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". Carrie made history by winning the Academy of Country Music Award's Entertainer of the Year for a second time in April, making her the first woman in history to do so. She also received the ACM Triple Crown Award, a rare feat. In June, she took home two more CMT Music Awards, including Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova" and Performance of the Year for "Temporary Home". Carrie wed professional hockey player Mike Fisher on July 10, 2010, leading to the release of "Mama's Song" in September. Play On garnered the award for Favorite Country Album at the American Music Awards in November, making Carrie the first artist in American Music Award history to win this award for her first three albums. She co-hosted the 2010 CMA Awards with Brad Paisley in November for a third time. Carrie co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "There's A Place For Us," the lead single from The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which made its debut in December. She was also chosen as the 2010-2011 spokeswoman for Olay. In December, she picked up a record-setting six awards at the first annual American Country Awards, including Artist of the Year, Touring Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Play On, Single by a Female Artist for "Cowboy Casanova", Music Video by a Female Artist for "Cowboy Casanova" and Female Artist of the Year. In addition, Underwood was named one of the Artists of the Year by CMT in December. Also that month, she won Inspirational Music Video of the Year for "Temporary Home" at the Inspirational Country Music Awards. She earned two more international awards at the French Country Music Awards in December, winning Best Female Vocalist of the Year and Best Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova". Carrie and songwriters, David Hodges and Hillary Lindsey, received a nomination for Best Original Song with "There's A Place For Us" at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards in January. At the 2011 ACM Awards in April, Carrie sang with Steven Tyler both her song "Undo It" and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". She was one of the seven women to be honored by the ACM at the Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country special. She was recognized for being the first and only female artist in the Academy's history to ever win Entertainer of the Year twice. At the ceremony, Vince Gill introduced Carrie and presented her with the special award. He sang one of her hits, "Jesus, Take The Wheel", and joined her on a rendition performance of "How Great Thou Art". The video of the performance turned into a viral sensation, reaching 3 million views on YouTube within two days. Carrie continued to act between touring and recording and co-starred in the 2011 inspirational movie, Soul Surfer in April. Also in early 2011, the Hollywood Reporter declared her to be the top earner among American Idol alumni with well over 14 million albums sold worldwide. In June, she headed to Australia to promote the release of Play On: Deluxe Edition there, performing on several TV shows during her trip, including Australia's version of Dancing With the Stars. ''She did duets with Tony Bennett on his 2011 album Duets II and with Randy Travis on his 2011 Anniversary Celebration album. Brad Paisley and Carrie hit the Billboard charts with "Remind Me," a cut from Paisley's album, This Is Country Music, which eventually hit number one on Billboard's country songs chart in September and also went Platinum, giving Carrie her 14th number one hit. On September 23, Carrie was one of the headlining acts of the biggest event in radio music history. She performed at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Also on September 23, the second season premiere of Blue Bloods aired, and Carrie made an appearance in the episode, singing "It Had to be You" alongside Tony Bennett. The day before the CMA Awards, Carrie picked up three more BMI Country Music Awards for Most Performed Songs of the Year for "Temporary Home", "Undo It", and "Mama's Song", all of which she co-wrote. Carrie co-hosted the 2011 CMA Awards with Brad Paisley in November for the fourth year in a row. She picked up another three American Country Awards on December 5, 2011, as she won Female Artist of the Year, Single by a Female Artist for "Mama's Song", and Music Video for a Female Artist for "Mama's Song", bringing her to a total of 9 of the fan-voted awards. Carrie was named Country Weekly's Most Beautiful Woman in December, as voted on by readers, appearing on the front cover of the magazine. Carrie filmed her first CMT Crossroads on February 4, teaming up with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Also In February, Carrie performed "It Had to be You" with Tony Bennett at the 2012 Grammy Awards also presenting the Best New Artist award to Bon Iver. Blown Away Era (2012-present) Carrie released her fourth album, Blown Away, on May 1, 2012. The album debuted at #1 atop both Billboard's top 200 Albums chart and its Country Albums chart, selling 267,000 copies its first week. It stayed at #1 the following week on the 200 chart, selling another 120,000 copies. Blown Away is Carrie's first album to stay at #1 for more than one week, and it's also her third album to top the 200 chart, in addition to being her fourth album atop the country chart. It has so far produced a number one hit, the lead single "Good Girl" and is currently certified gold, having sold over half a million copies. Carrie performed "Good Girl" at the ACM Awards in April. She also performed the album's second single, "Blown Away" at the Billboard Music Awards in May. At the 2012 CMT Music Awards, Carrie won Collaborative Video of the Year for her video with Brad Paisley in "Remind Me", as well as her third win for Video of the Year, for "Good Girl". As part of her Blown Away Tour, Carrie performed at such prestigious venues as Royal Albert Hall in London, England, and the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia in June and July. Personal Interests Carrie has stated many times that she is a Christian. She is also a vegan (before which she was a vegetarian). She has an intense love for animals and owns two dogs, Ace and Penny. She stated, ""Ever since I was little I loved animals ... If you told me I could never sing again, I'd say that was horrible, but it's not my life. If you told me I could never be around animals again, I would just die." She was voted "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA in 2005 and 2007. She has supported organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States. In addition, she founded the C.A.T.S Foundation in her hometown of Checotah, Ok in order to help benefit stray animals seeking homes. Carrie has also voiced support for same-sex marriage. She told the British newspaper ''The Independent, "As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry," she said. "I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love." Underwood went on to say, "Our church is gay friendly. Above all, God wanted us to love others. It's not about setting rules, or saying 'everyone has to be like me'. No. We're all different. That's what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It's not up to me to judge anybody." Following the flood disaster in Nashville, Tennessee in 2010, Carrie formed the "Temporary Home Fund" to help victims misplaced by the flood. She has also been part of events to help raise money for cancer research. Category:People